Last night-MLB Network-Indians Orioles blacked out for me in NJ?

I know I've recorded a few Indians games on MLB Network this year without an issue. But last night I come home and sit down to check MLB Network and the Tribe-O's game is blacked out---I live in NJ. The Red Sox game vs Blue Jays was on the MLBN alternate channel.

I spent about 15 minutes on the phone with a CSR and got the answer I kind of expected....well I got 12 different answers but none of them seemed right. Ultimately I was told that DirecTV didn't pay for the rights to air the game nationally so it was blacked out for EVERYONE. I would've expected the game to be blacked out in the Ohio/MD area just like Yankee/Met games are for me here in NJ when MLB Network airs them. And I know I've tuned in to a bunch of games this year on MLB Network and haven't seen an OOM team "blacked out" for me.

So I ask: Did ANYONE with DirecTV get to watch the game on MLB network (not the alternate channel) last night? Or, once again, did I just not play CSR roulette well enough (or have the energy to do so)?

This is one thing I hate about MLB Network. They pick two games and you never know which one you're going to get, unless one of them involves a team in your territory. It's aggravating because it makes it impossible to set up a recording in advance, as you don't know which game you're going to get. I've come home to a black screen.

. Ultimately I was told that DirecTV didn't pay for the rights to air the game nationally so it was blacked out for EVERYONE.
So I ask: Did ANYONE with DirecTV get to watch the game on MLB network (not the alternate channel) last night? Or, once again, did I just not play CSR roulette well enough (or have the energy to do so)?

Click to expand...

Yes, I saw the game here in California. That CSR line of not paying for the rights is really getting old as it is just wrong. MLB doesn't sell rights to individual games to providers. They only do that in College Football and basketball. This is just as bad as is the sellout garbage they try to peddle when a game is blacked out in error by D*. D*'s customer service in this area has never improved and CSR management should be embarrassed at least and fired at the most for never improving this part of their service.

Only one of two MLB channel games are available to each customer. It is not a blackout as much as they are regional games. You will never get both games on MLB. The game you get will be either on the main channel or the alternate, depending on which game you get.

As mentioned above, they don't tell you which one you will get. It is a crap shoot unless one of the teams is your local team. In that case, you get the other game.

It is a dumb way to do business. You'd think they would pick a game and give you the alternate if you are blacked out but that is not the case.

As for the CSR, technically they are correct. Directv did not pay for national rights. Because nobody does nor can they. They are not available. A little truth can be a falsehood.

(tonyd79 posted while I was writing this, and probably explained it better than I did.)

Just to clarify things a little, based on some of the above posts...

When MLB Network is carrying two games, it is not a situation of "game on the main channel airs nationwide except in the territories of the two teams involved, which get the alternate channel."

Rather, they seem to split things with the alternate channel going to all "interested" markets, in addition to the territories of the teams involved in the game on the main channel. I would bet that the Blue Jays-Red Sox game was the MLB Network game for the entire "triangle" sitting between Indians, Orioles, and Red Sox territory, based on the two AL East teams being involved -- or, at the very least, in New Jersey (Yankees territory) and perhaps Florida (Rays territory) in addition to Indians and Orioles territory.

DirecTV is only allowed to give each subscriber one of the two MLB Network games, so the "other" game will always be blacked out, even in areas that aren't within the territory of any of the four teams involved.

And, as far as I can tell, MLB Network doesn't publish a (public) map showing which games are going to be carried in which areas.